Catechism of the Catholic Church

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CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, promulgated by Pope John Paul II on December 8, 1992, is a compendium of Catholic doctrine that serves as a reference text for teaching and particularly for preparing local catechisms. Modelled on the so-called "Roman Catechism," promulgated in 1566 by the Council of Trent, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is divided into four parts of unequal length: the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ, and Christian prayer. Part one introduces the reader to God's revelation and is organized around the tenets of the Creed. Part two explains how God's plan for salvation is made present in the sacred actions of the Church's liturgy, especially in the sacraments. Part three presents Catholic tradition on law and grace and the principles of Christian morality found in the Commandments. Part four outlines the meaning and importance of prayer in Christian life and explains the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church consists of 2,865 numbered paragraphs, with extensive crossreferences in the margins and an analytical index. The text itself is distinguished by the use of large and small print. The body of the text, in large print, presents the teaching of the Church; passages in small print offer supplementary explanations, generally historical or apologetic, and quotations from patristic, liturgical, magisterial, and hagiographic sources. Further, at the end of each thematic unit, there is a series of condensed formulas that summarize the main points of the foregoing section. The original French edition ran 676 pages; the English edition published in the United States, 803 pages.

History. The development of the Catechism of the Catholic Church began with a recommendation by Bernard Cardinal Law, archbishop of Boston. In the course of the proceedings of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 1985 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Law proposed "a Commission of Cardinals to prepare a draft of a Conciliar Catechism to be promulgated by the Holy Father after consulting the bishops of the world." The proposal was endorsed by the Synod and accepted by Pope John Paul II, who, in 1986, appointed a commission of twelve cardinals to oversee the work. It was chaired by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger, and included American cardinals Bernard Law and William Baum. The actual drafting of the Catechism was delegated to a committee of seven residential bishops, assisted by Christoph Schönborn, O.P., of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and later cardinal archbishop of Vienna.

In the initial drafts, prepared through 1987–88, the Catechism had three parts and an epilogue. The drafting of part one, the explanation of the Creed, was entrusted to Bishops José Estepa (Spain) and Alessandro Maggiolini (Italy); part two on the sacraments to Bishops Jorge Medina (Chile) and Estanislao Esteban Karlic (Argentina); part three, the section on morals to Jean Honoré (France) and David Konstant (England). Once it was decided to make the section on prayer an integral part of the Catechism, the task of drafting part four was given to an Eastern theologian, Father Jean Corbon of Beirut, a member of the International Theological Commission. The seventh member of the committee, Archbishop William Levada, then of Portland, Oregon, and later of San Francisco, was charged with producing a glossary. In November 1989 the Commission sent the draft text to all the bishops of the world for their consultation. While the text received a generally positive evaluation, the Commission did examine and evaluate over 24,000 amendments suggested by the world's bishops. On June 25, 1992, John Paul II officially approved the definitive text. The formal promulgation of the Catechism came on December 8, 1992, with the publication of the apostolic constitution Fidei depositum.

The Interdicasterial Commission that supervised translations into other modern languages approved the

English language text in February 1994. By 1998 the English edition published under the auspices of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops had sold two and a half million copies.

With the apostolic letter Laetamur magnopere, dated August 15, 1997, Pope John Paul II introduced the editio typica, the official version in Latin. The new edition incorporated a number of modifications in the text approved by the Pope, which bishops' conferences throughout the world were asked to include in future editions of the Catechism. The most notable change to the text was the section on capital punishment, which was changed to reflect Pope John Paul's arguments against the death penalty in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae.

In March 2000, the United States bishops' conference published a second edition of the Catechism for the United States. This second edition incorporates the modifications promulgated in Laetamur magnopere, and includes an English translation of the more extensive analytical index that appeared in the Latin edition and a glossary developed by Archbishop Levada.

Nature and Purpose. The Catechism does not include pedagogical or methodological considerations. The Prologue states:

By design, this Catechism does not set out to provide the adaptation of doctrinal presentations and catechetical methods required by the differences of culture, age, spiritual maturity, and social and ecclesial conditions among those to whom it is addressed. Such indispensable adaptations are the responsibility of particular catechisms and, even more, of those who instruct the faithful (n. 23).

The Catechism seeks to respond to an authentic need expressed by many for a clear, intelligent, and coherent presentation of the Catholic faith for the present age. According to the prologue of the Catechism:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is intended primarily for bishops. As teachers of the faith and pastors of the Church, they have the first responsibility in catechesis. Through the bishops, it is addressed to redactors of catechisms, priests, and catechists. It will also be useful reading for all other Christian faithful (n. 12).

Bibliography: Editorial Commission of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Informative Dossier (Vatican City 1992). m. simon, Un Catéchisme universel pour l'église catholique du Concile de Trente à nos jours (Louvain 1992). j. ratzinger, "The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Optimism of the Redeemed," Communio 20 (Fall 1993): 469–84. b. l. marthaler, The Catechism Yesterday & Today: The Evolution of a Genre (Collegeville, Minn. 1995).